Its worth noting for you guys out there, that Hamilton made it all the way back to the pit, and wouldn't have been punished if he pulled over and stopped past the line. Hamilton was being TOLD to slow down to save fuel, but we don't actually know how close he was to the line, and we know that Rosberg was being told to slow down in the race to save fuel. All we actually know is that Hamilton finished the race with more than he needed.
Look at Webber/Vettel, both slowed(one later than the other) and cruised to the end, its actually impossible to say how much Hamilton did slow down compared to how much he HAD to slow down. With clearly at least a lap of extra fuel, going slower only saves so much fuel. It looked a very slow pace, but then the guys behind weren't gaining and after the RBR's established an 8 second gap they weren't pulling away from Hamilton much either.
Hamilton didn't have enough fuel to challenge the Red Bull's, clearly, but some of the pace he was showing was purely "safety" margin on the fuel, he could clearly have gone somewhat faster.. how much, who knows. For all we know there was the pace they needed to beat the red bulls, the pace they think he could have made it to the line, 1 second a lap slower, and they told him to go 2 seconds a lap slower for absolute safety.
Ultimately as I've said with Button/Hamilton before, the faster driver, staying closer to the guys infront, will have a disadvantage over the "slower" driver in the team who can't hang on. The faster guy who manages to hold on to the guys infront is using more fuel, losing efficiency in bad air, wearing tires faster, its not the optimum position. The second driver will often have an advantage towards the end of the race, but if the faster driver cruises around directly infront of the second slower driver... the second driver loses efficiency, tire wear increases and is disadvantaged at the end of a race. Partially this is punishing drivers due to the aero nature and tyre wear. Also obviously, when you can hang on within a second of the guy infront, you have a chance to overtake a fast driver with a good car, the more overtakes you do the more chances of damage/getting smashed off. Hamilton if he'd simply held on to his position, would have been hit off the track less, would have made less mistakes, and would have destroyed Button over the season, absolutely destroyed him.
The thing is, Rosberg at no stage of the race could hold on to the Red Bull's and had no chance to catch them at the end. I'm actually pro letting Hamilton have the third, though its less satisfying, and I was pro Sutil not being challenged by Di Resta, Sutil had a great race then some bad luck on tires at the end, but was the better driver over the weekend, as Hamilton was.
Something needs to be fixed where the optimum way to go around a track is to not challenge the guy ahead but do your best to screw the guy behind. Had Hamilton sat on Rosberg's front wing all race, Rosberg would have had the issues at the end, not Hamilton. Seriously not a fan of underfueling, but then, overfuel and you lose speed over an entire race... refuelling means no stints on stupid stupid fuel loads, less tyre wear, more ability to get the best out of the rubber.
Several drivers today, and last week said they didn't enjoy the race, and as a spectator I didn't, the drivers don't want to drive WELL within the limits of the car for the entire race, outside of Q3 you don't see the cars going flat out over the entire weekend... that is surely not good for a motorsport that is supposed to be the pinicle of driving and technology, both the drivers and cars aren't actually anywhere near full out at any stage of a race.
If Hamilton cruised around infront of Button the other season, never attempted to overtake the guy infront, never pushed hard(like Button) he would have smashed button to pieces in the championship, and never got remotely close to the leaders at any stage of the season.. Button would have had worse fuel, worse tyre wear, and dropped back at the end of the race, Hamilton COULD have done that to Rosberg, instead he tried to do better, and was punished for it.
